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Cardas GoldenCross vs. NBS Statement or Monitor 0?

I am using Cardas Golden Cross speaker cables in my system and I am satisfied overall. But I would like a tiny bit more sweet and silky sound than now, which is very neutral. Would changing the speaker cable to NBS Statement help to make the sound a bit 'rich'?

My system is:
ML 31.5; Boulder 1012 pre/dac; Boulder 1060 poweramp; Avalon Eidolons; Harmonic Tech Magic Link digital cable; NBS Monitor 1 interconnects; Cardas Goldencross Speaker cables.

Thanks for your inputs.
cjpark
phild
603 posts
 
Your system may be neutral overall, but I can pretty much guarantee you that the Golden Cross are warmer and smoother than neutral. I've compared them to Coincident, regular Cardas Cross, Z-Cable, JPS SUperconductors, etc. and the Cardas Golden Cross definitely have warm mids and lows. It's nothing drastic...they're great musical cables, but that warmer feel is why they named them "Golden". That may mean that your system is a little thinner than neautral and if you were to replace the Golden Cross with neutral cables you may miss their warming effect.
dkp
13 posts
 
I have owned cardas golden cross and neutral reference.
Both excellent cables, the golden cross had an overall
warmth that suited my system at the time(avalon ascents and
gryphon electronics)Since several equipment changes I have
now changed from Valhalla's to NBS Statment Extremes.
My previous statment 3's outperformed the Valhalla's
and by a significant margin, contrary to the experience of
Audio2us.Cables are system dependant. However I have just
received the new Statement Extremes(same technology as the
Omega series) and they are a significant musical upgrade on the Statement 3.Tighter and more articulate bass, superb
dynamics and detail, and extended natural highs.I tried
my old Valhalla speaker cable against the new extremes , and
invited some audiophile friends to see their reactions.
No comparison, the extremes are in a different class to the
Valhalla's (at least in my system).So whatever Walter has done to his new cables he has certainly left Nordost out in the cold.
jadem6's avatar
jadem6
1,074 posts
 
I have experimented extensively over the past year with the Cardas Golden Cross, the Neutral Reference, FIM Gold, NBS Statement and Valhalla along with another 20 or so cables.

My opinion is you Cardas are the warmer of the group but also the least raveling. I found the FIM, NBS and Valhalla to have a far lower noise floor, reducing the amount of high frequency "hash" and producing a less fatiguing presentation.

If you want a warm clean sound the FIM are a place to start. The NBS and Valhalla are so similar it's a toss up to me. The Vallhala might be a bit more open and reveling, this may or may not cause you problems.

In my opinion the Cardas are excellent mid-fi cables, but any of the other three will take you to a new level. The lack of "hash" may sound to you as warmer, you must try a few to know.

Also for me I found the interconnects to have a larger impact on my system than the speaker cable so I would suggest working with some other interconnects and stick with your Cardas speaker cables for now.

J.D.
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